Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

U.S. House passes bill that prevents a Malheur County national monument

An Interior Department funding bill passed by the U.S. House of
Representatives includes a provision that blocks a proposed national
monument in Malheur County, Ore., that is strongly opposed by local
ranchers and farmers. The bill passed 231-196 July 14 and is headed to the Senate.
It
includes a proposal by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., that prevents funds
from being used to create a national monument in Malheur County. Oregon
Natural Desert Association, a Bend, Ore.-based environmental group, has
proposed creating a national monument on 2.5 million acres in an area
of the county known as the Owyhee Canyonlands. It would cover 40
percent of the county and encompass about 33 percent of the county’s
total grazing land. County residents voted 9-1 against the idea during a
special election in March. Walden said in a news release that the
House vote sends “a strong message to the president that the
overwhelming majority of local residents and the People’s House oppose a
monument.” The vote was applauded by Jordan Valley rancher Mark Mackenzie, vice
president of the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition, which was formed
this year to represent ranchers, farmers and others who oppose a
national monument designation. Regardless of what happens to the
bill in the Senate, “it’s sending a loud message ... that, hey, we’re
not happy with this proposal,” Mackenzie said. He said if a
monument is created, a completely new set of rules would have to be
drawn up for it and that unknown is concerning to ranchers. “It’s very, very upsetting for the industry because we don’t know what we’re going to get,” he said. Malheur County is Oregon’s No. 1 cattle producing county with about $134 million in farm-gate receipts annually...more